


Team-up Team Rocket

by secret170193



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, Frenemies, Gen, Near Death Experiences, Team Up, Teamwork, Written in 2010, injured meowth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27423208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secret170193/pseuds/secret170193
Summary: In an unfortunate twist of events, Meowth is seriously injured and Team Rocket have to beg Ash and co. for their help. However, can the two groups of friends get on long enough to be of use to each other? Or will they tear each other apart?
Relationships: Rocket-dan Nyarth | Team Rocket Meowth & Satoshi no Pikachu | Ash Ketchum's Pikachu, Rocket-dan | Team Rocket & Satoshi | Ash Ketchum
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written all the way back in 2010! Set around the anime, around the time that Ash, Misty and Brock are the main trio and Team Rocket are the main antagonists.

Team Rocket was a notorious group, fairly respected by other villainous organizations. Team Rocket had many groups skilled in the art of pokemon capture and other thieving acts.

One group in particular however was in no way notorious, respected or skilled in any way. In fact they were so renowned for their failures it was a wonder they were even still part of Team Rocket. The group in question was of course the team of Jessie, James and Meowth (but they just called themselves Team Rocket, though they weren't exactly good representatives for the entire organization).

Normally they would be about as good as any team starting out, but they always seemed to be down on their luck (and their funds). Somehow, in some way, it always seemed to lead back to the same people. The Twerps. A young pokemon trainer named Ash and his friends Brock and Misty. Kids on their own would be easy to handle, but Ash had started his journey with a surprisingly strong and determined Pikachu. This Pikachu had begun Team Rocket's problems and now, they wanted it.

Team Rocket sat kneeling atop a ledge, binoculars out, watching the road for the Twerps. Jessie hogged the binoculars as usual, letting James have the occasional glimpse. Meowth didn't get to look at all, apparently he left hairs stuck to the inner rings that were supposed to fit round your eyes. Suddenly Jessie called out, leaning forwards and pointing.

'There! I see them!'

James shuffled forwards and peered carefully at the horizon.

'You sure? I don't see them. Here, let me look.'

James reached forwards for the binoculars only to have them pulled out of reach by Jessie.

'Nuh-uh, I'm looking.'

A scuffle broke out between the three fighting over who should look through the binoculars. No proper punching, just a lot of kicking, shoving and holding the binoculars too far out of reach for them to be of use to anybody. Shouts between the three began to travel down the drop at the side of the ledge.

'Come on Jessie, you always have the binoculars.'

'That's cos I'm the only one who knows how to use them!'

'That was one time!'

'What about me, I can't see a ting!'

It didn't take much. The ground beneath their legs began to crumble and too late Team Rocket realised the ledge under them wouldn't hold them any longer. All three made a desperate scrabble for the sides but failed and plunged down the sheer drop.

They landed on the ground with a thud in front of a gaping hole in the Cliffside, Jessie on her backside, James on his face and Meowth on his back. Jessie jumped up, having suffered much worse, and roughly kicked James in the ribs.

'Great, now we've lost the binoculars. This is all your fault!'

James groaned and clutched his side, yelling back in a whining voice.

'Ow! Come on that was harsh. How is this my fault?'

Meowth sat up, ignoring the other two, this was them on a good day. His ears pricked, picking up something.

'Would you numbskulls shut up for a second.'

Jessie spun round and yelled at Meowth.

'This is your fault too! Don't tell me to shut up!'

Meowth stared into the cave and shushed Jessie. Jessie blinked confused and forgot her terrifying wrath for a moment, trying to see whatever it was Meowth could see. Suddenly two bright eyes glinted from inside the cave and the trio jumped to their feet, a petrified look in their eyes and slowly began to back away. They backed right across the small patch of grass in front of the cave until they're backed up against the tight knot of forest trees behind them.

Out of the cave mouth came a light grumble, then the sounds of movement, something big. The corner of Meowth's mouth twitched in fear, Jessie groped round in her pockets for her Arbok's pokeball while James stood completely frozen. The bright glaring eyes moved forwards out of the cave to reveal a huge Rhydon, irritated at having been woken up. James let out a whimper while Jessie fumbled with the pokeball and threw it in a very unprofessional manner at the angry Rhydon.

'Arbok, go!'

Arbok appeared, trying to look very confident and scary as it expected to face the Twerps and Pikachu. It was very shocked to see the maddened Rhydon and very nearly retreated. Jessie elbowed James in the side, not for a second taking her eyes off the beast before them.

'What are you waiting for?'

James snivelled and almost dropped his pokeball on the ground, not even bothering to command his pokemon out with words. Wheezing appeared, staring terrified up at the giant mass. Like it's master it froze. Jessie panicked and motioned Arbok to attack.

'Arbok, Poison sting!'

Arbok did as it was told and fired a series of poisoned missiles from it's mouth. The small pins shattered when they came in contact with the Rhydon's stone-like hide. The Rhydon let out a roar and in a sweeping motion, flicked it's huge tail around and into both Arbok and Wheezing. The two pokemon were knocked out cold and lay on the ground a short distance from the Team Rocket members before being recalled into their balls. Jessie and James shuffled back slightly as the Rhydon turned it's attention back to them. It growled and took a step forward, the ground beneath their feet feeling the impact. It reared it's head to charge at the terrified members. Jessie muttered to James out of the corner of her mouth.

'Don't suppose you have any secret pokemon up your sleeves?'

James shook his head.

'Guess this is it, nice knowing you.'

Meowth shook his head and replaced his scared face with a determined one.

'No way are we going like dis!'

He ran forwards and leapt at Rhydon, claws extended bravely.

'Fury swipes!'

Meowth scratched ferociously at the Rhydon's eyes. It fell back a step, annoyed, then with one movement used a forepaw to flip Meowth away from it's face, then struck Meowth with the back of it's paw with a mighty force. Meowth catapulted through the air and hit a thick tree with a loud, dull thud and a quiet crack where the bark split, then slowly fell from the trunk, face first onto the earth. Jessie and James hadn't taken their eyes from the now furious Rhydon, afraid to look away to where Meowth was just in case it attacked. The Rhydon turned to them with a growl but stopped in it's tracks suddenly and stared at the end of it's nose. Jessie and James took a brief moment to glance at each other confused, when the Rhydon jumped slightly and looked at it's nose again, eyes almost crossed. It stared up into the sky and that was when Jessie and James noticed it had started raining. The rock type pokemon seemed to be paying a lot more attention to getting wet than destroying what had woken it. Another drop landed on it's shoulder and with a quick shake, the Rhydon retreated back into the cave until it couldn't be heard anymore.

Jessie and James slowly relaxed and both breathed a sigh of relief, not really caring that the rain was coming down in heavy droplets now. Jessie quickly went back to pretending she'd never been scared.

'Well, that was close.'

James tapped Jessie on the shoulder.

'Um, Jess…'

Jessie turned round to look where James was pointing and saw Meowth, laying on the ground, unmoving. The two crept closer and James knelt down next to the cat pokemon. He reached out a hand slowly and touched the pokemon's shoulder.

'Meowth? Come on, don't play around.'

Meowth still didn't move. James slowly lifted Meowth's body and stood up. He turned to Jessie, looking very worried. Jessie looked down and saw Meowth's chest moving slowly, at least he was still breathing.

'We'll he's alive, I guess we'll just have to wait for him to wake up.'

James shook his head slowly.

'I think it's worse than that, look.'

He cradled their partner in crime in one arm and pulled out the other to show Jessie. On the white uniform were patches of dirt and dots of rain appearing but what startled Jessie was a blotted pattern of blood up the sleeve. Jessie put her hand against Meowth's shoulder and across his back. She could feel the wounds and the mix of rain, mud and small amounts of blood matted in with the fur. This wasn't something Meowth could just sleep off, and if they didn't get help quick… James looked at Jessie. Jessie knew exactly what he was thinking and shook her head hurriedly.

'No, we can't! Any pokemon centre could easily recognise us as criminals, we'd be in jail faster than Pikachu could shock us!'

James looked sadly between Jessie and Meowth.

'But, Jessie, Meowth needs help…'

Jessie's face softened. They couldn't just leave him like this and hope it would go away, he might never wake up again with wounds like these. If only they could get him to a pokemon centre without having to go themselves. Then it struck her. They might not have to go. Jessie began to walk towards the main road, motioning James to follow.

'It's risky, but I think I have an idea that might just work.'

James followed, wrapping both arms round Meowth, trying to keep his little body warm.

'I just hope it does.'


	2. Chapter 2

Ash and co. walked along the main road when it began to rain. Misty moaned and pulled her raincoat out of her backpack and up over her head. Ash stuck on his cagoule over his head and began to tease Misty about the rain.

'Call yourself a water pokemon trainer and you can't even stand a bit of rain?'

Misty hit Ash over the shoulder with a scowl and peered through the downpour.

'Brock, how far to the next town?'

Brock took out a folder up map and leaned over it to stop the rain dripping on it. He traced a finger across the page and frowned.

'Well the next town isn't for a few miles, we couldn't make it before nightfall.'

Both Ash and Misty groaned and Pikachu tried to shake off a particularly heavy raindrop caught on it's ear. Misty leaned over to look at the map too.

'Does this mean we have to sleep out in the rain again?'

Brock shook his head and traced his finger back along the page, stopping about halfway back down the path.

'Not necessarily, according to this there's a Pokemon centre just over that hill.'

Ash punched the air and got ready to sprint the rest of the way.

'Well, what are we waiting for! I'm not gonna stand around here and get soaked!'

Misty smirked.

'Now who can't stand a bit of rain?'

Ash pretended to ignore her and took a pace forwards ready to break into a run when a familiar voice broke through the rain.

'Stop right there!'

The trio froze in their tracks and looked to the side of the main road where the recognizable silhouettes of two figures stood.

'Prepare for trouble.'

'And make it double.'

Ash and friends barely had to listen to the first two lines to know who it was. Misty glared daggers at the silhouettes.

'Team Rocket!'

Ash wanted to be in the Pokemon centre, warm and dry, so he decided to get this all over with quickly.

'I don't have time for this. Pikachu…!'

Jessie stepped onto the road from the shadows of the forest, holding her hand out as though to stop him.

'Wait!'

Ash stopped. Something didn't seem quite right. She didn't have the air of confidence she usually did. In fact, right now she looked a little scared. Jessie stopped once she'd stepped onto the path, a fair enough distance from the twerps to prove she wasn't being a threat.

'Don't attack.'

Misty stepped forward a little, looking rather angry.

'And why shouldn't we?'

Jessie looked down at the wet ground with a sigh, obviously annoyed at having to say this.

'We… we need you're help…'

Ash gritted his teeth. Team Rocket? Asking for help? It sounded fishy.

'I'm not buying it! Ready Pikachu!'

Pikachu let a few sparks fly from it's cheeks as it stood ready to attack when suddenly James ran from the shadows. Ash leapt back a step, closing his eyes, expecting an attack of some sort. When he opened his eyes both him and Pikachu were shocked to find James kneeling on the floor in front of them as though he was praying.

'Please…please help us. We don't know what to do.'

Ash's face softened. He sounded genuine. Ash bent down slowly, still cautious, and peered at James, who still had his head bowed to the ground.

'Help with what?'

Misty shook her head at Ash, signalling they shouldn't be trusting them in any way. James slowly uncurled from his position, but remained on his knees. He pulled his arms out from round his chest to reveal the unconscious Meowth wrapped in them.

'Please… help.'

Ash didn't know what to say, the plea sounded so pitiful. Brock kept his eyes on Jessie to make sure she didn't do anything and while she obviously disapproved of this behaviour from her team-mate, she too looked concerned. Misty leaned forwards and gazed at Meowth.

'He looks awful, what happened to him?'

Jessie stepped forwards, looking a lot more relaxed than moments before when she thought she was about to be shocked with 1000 volts.

'We were attacked by a wild Rhydon. Meowth tried to protect us but…'

James sniffled and pulled Meowth close again, out of the rain.

'He couldn't… It was too much.'

Jessie crouched down next to James and patted him on the shoulder, looking sadly at Meowth.

'The rain got rid of the Rhydon, but Meowth's in the worst shape I've seen him in…'

Misty leaned over, still quite unwilling to help Team Rocket, but understanding of their plight.

'Why not just take him to the next Pokemon centre?'

Jessie stood up quickly and snapped at Misty, glaring like her Arbok would.

'Don't you think we'd thought of that? We're known criminals, we'd be arrested the moment we walked through that door!'

Brock looked between the two criminals.

'What's more important right now, your freedom, or your friends life?'

Jessie and James answered at the same time, but different answers.

'Freedom.'

'Meowth.'

Jessie blushed when she realised she'd just disagreed with her team-mate right in front of their enemies. James hadn't noticed, he looked more worried about Meowth. Ash looked down at the ground. His brain said to leave these no good lawbreakers and let them to their own problems. His conscience had a different idea though, saying that without their help, Meowth might well die and that was no way to be rewarded for protecting ones friends. As usual, Ash's conscience won the battle.

'We'll help.'

Misty and Brock looked completely shocked, Jessie barely changed her facial expression but James let a small tear trickle down his cheek, hardly noticeable in the rain.

'Thank you.'

Ash took off his raincoat and placed it over Meowth and all together, Team Rocket and the Twerps, set off at a light jog towards the Pokemon centre.

As the pokemon centre drew nearer, Ash began to wonder if he'd done the right thing. No doubt as soon as Team Rocket was back on their feet they'd come straight after Pikachu. They all stopped for breath about 100 meters or so from the centre and all looked at each other. Ash knew that one of them would have to take Meowth in, and Team Rocket would stay here, he just wasn't too sure how it would work. He'd never really tried to team up with his enemies like this before. He looked to Brock and Misty.

'You two should stay here and keep an eye on them, I'll take Meowth in there.'

Brock simply nodded, Misty was still panting and shrugged. Jessie looked completely insulted that they'd be 'baby-sat'. She harrumphed, folded her arms and looked away.

'We're not stupid enough to run off just liked that.'

James stepped forwards and gently placed Meowth into Ash's arms. Ash could feel the sudden dead weight and dried crisps of blood and dirt in Meowth's fur. Pikachu peered down from Ash's shoulder at the Team Rocket member. Ash's face fell solemn as he gave a single nod. James stepped back, looking at the ground.

'Please, be careful with him.'

Ash nodded again and began at a light jog towards the pokemon centre, Pikachu balanced on his shoulder. As soon as he'd left, Misty took to watching Jessie, who merely began a staring contest with her, glaring daggers. Brock watched James, who really wasn't in the mood for concentrating hate on the twerps, but just looked at the floor.

Ash burst through the doors of the pokemon centre, dripping wet and found it to be totally empty except for himself and the Nurse Joy at the counter. Obviously this was not a popular route at the moment. Perhaps it was the Rhydon that Team Rocket mentioned keeping everyone away. The Nurse Joy rushed over and took one look at the Meowth in Ash's arms.

'Oh my! This looks awful! How did this happen, is this your pokemon?'

Ash hurriedly shook his head, it would be rather terrible if Meowth was his pokemon. What trainer would allow any of his pokemon to get into that state.

'No, this one was attacked by a Rhydon near the main road. My friends and I found it and knew it needed help.'

Nurse Joy nodded.

'Normally I'd be forced to turn down a wild pokemon, but with things being as slow as they are I see no reason why this one can't get some attention.'

Ash sighed in relief and handed Meowth over to Nurse Joy. It was a strange thought but Meowth technically didn't have a master did he? No pokeball, no trainer, so he was a wild pokemon, so to speak. Nurse Joy began to take Meowth towards the back room of the centre when Ash realised that since he'd said Meowth wasn't his, Nurse Joy might expect him to just leave him there. Ash stopped her.

'Wait. I'm quite concerned about this Meowth. Would it be alright if I left my Pikachu here with it? My friends and I will be camping just outside, they've probably set up the tents already.'

Nurse Joy thought this sounded a little strange, but this trainer was obviously concerned and that couldn't be a bad thing.

'Well, alright. As long as you intend to come back for them.'

Ash nodded and looked at his partner pokemon.

'I'd never leave Pikachu. Now Pikachu, you stay here with Meowth, Okay?'

Pikachu nodded and smiled.

'Pikaa.'

Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder and onto Nurse Joy's who led both him and Meowth into the back room. Ash watched them go, the went back outside to see how the others were doing.


	3. Chapter 3

Ash returned to the place he'd left his friends and found more or less what he'd expected. The worst case scenario he'd come up with was that Team Rocket had decided to attack while he wasn't around. This was quite the opposite.

Misty and Brock had begun to set up the two tents, having them half up already due to want to get out of the rain, while Jessie and James were sat on the floor a good ten meters away arguing quietly in the drizzle.

Jessie glared at James, obviously displeased.

"Are you trying to tell me that we have nowhere to sleep?"

James nodded, looking just about as disgruntled as Jessie.

"Well the sleeping bags are in the balloon and the balloon is back at that ridge we fell off, so getting them right now would be a rather stupid thing to do."

Jessie flicked James on the ear and raised her voice a little in anger.

"Great, so we're just supposed to sleep out in the rain?"

Brock and Misty looked over to see what the commotion was about. Jessie turned her head to stare straight back.

"What are you looking at?"

Both Brock and Misty shrugged to themselves and carried on setting up the tents.

Ash walked in on the unfortunate group at this point and was glad to see a campsite, rather than a battleground. As soon as Ash entered the site, James stood up and looked at him.

"Well?"

Ash waited for everyone to pay attention.

"Nurse Joy said she'll take care of him. Pikachu's staying there too, now all we have to do is wait."

James sighed and sat back down again. Misty finished putting up the tent while Brock lit a small gas fire and shielded it from the rain as he began to cook dinner. Night began to fall and the rain worsened. Ash, Misty and Brock sat round the fire and waited for the food to finish cooking. With few previsions left, Brock had thrown the last of the food into a cooking pot and made a sort of mixed flavoured stew out of it. The aroma wafted into the air and was quickly whipped away by the wind.

Once the food was cooked, Brock handed a bowl each to Ash and Misty and began serving portions. Team Rocket sat a good distance from the fire, still unwilling to associate with the Twerps, and stared hungrily at the food and source of heat. Jessie turned to face James again, not wanting to be caught eyeing the Twerps.

"And our food is…?"

James looked back sheepishly and grimaced.

"In the balloon."

Jessie sighed and glared at the muddy ground.

"Figures."

The two sighed again and stared at the floor miserably. Both their stomach's growled.

Ash looked over from the fire at the two figures sat hunched in the gloom. He looked down at his food and suddenly felt bad for them. Damn his stupid conscience. He looked at Misty and Brock.

"Don't you suppose we should…?"

Misty's eyes widened. She shook her head quickly.

"Nu-uh, no way. It's one thing to help them, but I'm certainly not feeding them. Remember all the things they've put us through? They can starve for all I care."

Ash frowned slightly.

"They may be complete pains in the backside, but I'd rather not lower myself to their level."

Brock nodded.

"Ash does have a point, Misty. I suppose it's better to be nice to them than act like they would."

Misty pouted, stumped for an answer. Brock leaned over and reaching into his rucksack, pulled out another bowl.

"There's only one left."

Ash nodded, it would do. He filled it with the stew and stood up. Jessie and James sat looking into the night fast approaching, clutching their complaining stomachs. Ash stepped forwards and bent down to their height. He held out the bowl to the two criminals who in turn looked blankly between him and the food, looking very confused. Ash held the bowl out again and this time James took it, still looking confused. Ash wasn't quite sure what to say, so he just stated the obvious.

"Food."

Jessie blinked and caught on. She returned to frowning and stared at the bowl a bit.

"Did you poison it?"Ash looked at the food, a little shocked at this accusation. He frowned.

"Of course not. Well, sorry for trying to be nice. You don't have to eat it."

With that Ash walked back over to his friends and sat down. Jessie and James stared at the bowl, not sure what to do with it. Jessie pointed at the bowl.

"You go first."

James bit his lip.

"But what if it is poisoned?"

Jessie rolled her eyes.

"Then you'll find out for the both of us, eat it."

James gulped, closed his eyes and brought the stew bowl up to his lips and took a sip. He sat for a moment tasting it and took another sip. Finally satisfied that the food wasn't going to kill them any time soon, Jessie took the bowl off James and began to eat some herself. Both very hungry, they grudgingly took it in turns until the bowl was completely clean.

Then came the awkward part. Jessie was left with the bowl, being the last one to eat out of it, and didn't know what to do with it. It wasn't their bowl. Sure she'd never had problems with stealing before, and this was no exception, but she didn't exactly want to be carrying an empty bowl around with her. She tried to hand it back to James who sat on his hands and shook his head.

"No, you give it back."

Jessie glowered at him, but realising they were acting childishly over this. She got up, walked quickly over to the trio by the fire, and dropped it in Ash's lap. She curled her lip slightly as she muttered quietly.

"er… thanks."

She hurried back over to where James was sitting without another word. Ash exchanged glances with Brock and Misty. Misty shook her head and sighed.

"Well that hardly counts as gratitude you know."

Ash shrugged.

"Well they said thanks. I suppose that's something, coming from them."

Brock and Ash packed away the cooking pot and bowls while Misty got the sleeping bags out of the rucksacks and laid one in her tent and two in the tent that Ash and Brock shared. They'd normally be better off with a tent each, but that would involve carrying a lot more. Once everything was set up, Misty retired to her tent, Ash and Brock to theirs. The rain began to pour down even harder and Team Rocket sat huddled together at the base of a tree in the campsite. It didn't shield them much and James sniffled as he wiped a drop of water of his nose.

"If we stay out here all night we're going to catch colds. Maybe we should…"

Jessie guessed what his next sentence would be and glared daggers at him, snapping.

"No."

"But maybe…"

"I said no!"

James sighed and looked down. If Jessie said no, he couldn't exactly go against it. Unknown to them, Ash, Brock and Misty from her own tent, kept looking out into the rain at the two 'evil masterminds'. They looked at each other and couldn't help but feel pity. They couldn't really help it, they had a soft spot for helping others and even a small soft spot for their enemies. The trio looked at each other, knowing what they'd have to do. Brock looked unmoved by the decision, Ash looked a little worried, Misty simple looked mortified. After shaking her head a few times she finally gave in. She turned to look at the Team Rocket members.

"You know if you stay out there all night you're going to get sick."

Jessie looked up, surprised that they were being observed and snapped back a retort.

"Well what do you suggest?"

Ash leaned out his tent slightly.

"I suggest you get in the tents before you get any wetter."

James went to stand up, wanting very much to get out of the rain, but Jessie pulled him back to the ground.

"What are you doing? No way are we going to…"

James pouted and gave his best puppy dog eyes.

"But Jessie…"

Jessie sighed, she couldn't resist. If he wanted to keep dry that much, maybe one night wouldn't be so bad. The two members stood up and headed over to the tents. Reluctantly Jessie slipped into Misty's tent and crouched in the far corner. James went to follow Jessie but Misty stuck her head out the tent with a typical comeback.

"Nu-uh, not you. You're a boy."

The tent zipped shut in James's face. He blinked in shock for a while, feeling rather stupid that that hadn't occurred to him. Brock called from the other tent.

"In here."

James timidly went into the boys tent and zipped it shut behind him. He felt totally nervous without Jessie there. He hunched in the corner and tried not to take up much space. Jessie sat in Misty's tent doing the same.

Misty sat on her sleeping bag, not sure whether to fall asleep or try and start a decent conversation with Jessie.

"So…"

Jessie glared at the water type trainer and mumbled a response.

"Look missy, I'm not here to make friends or conversation, so don't expect it from me."

Misty frowned, but shrugged and laid down to sleep.

Back in the boys tent, Brock and Ash were trying to do the same thing. Brock was better at conversation starters than Ash.

"So… You don't seem that awful on your own. How'd a guy like you end up in Team Rocket?"

James was surprised by this question, but just hugged his knees tighter to himself and looked away.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Ash and Brock looked at each other, shrugged and settled down hoping for a long night of quiet rest.

Maybe hoping wasn't quite enough.


	4. Chapter 4

Rain poured down on the sides of the tents as the bizarre mix of companions slept. Unbeknown to them things were about to get worse in a very small amount of time.

In the Pokemon centre, Pikachu sat just outside the back room Meowth lay in, watching through the glass window. Nurse Joy walked briskly from one side of the room to the other, typed some things into a medical computer, and walked back again. For someone running an empty Pokemon centre she certainly seemed to be doing a lot. Pikachu kept a close eye on the machine Meowth was hooked up to. It remembered seeing a machine like that before, it was a sort of life support. It measured the pokemon's heartbeat and kept it steady. At least, that was what Pikachu supposed it did.

Pikachu felt a shiver run up it's spine and looked towards the door of the Pokemon centre, hearing a distant rumble. The air felt static and Pikachu became suddenly alert to an incoming storm. It worried for Ash and the others, but knew it's orders were to stay with the injured cat pokemon.

Back in the campsite thunder rolled overhead, a deep dull sound in the beginning. Neither the Twerps or Team Rocket stirred at first. Suddenly a booming roar was heard as thunder raged directly overhead. A white flash split through the clouds above. Lightning flared in the sky and woke Ash and James. Ash sat up quickly and looked towards the tent door. Normally a storm wouldn't bother him but this one was the worst he'd heard in a long time, and without Pikachu there happily sleeping to the static of the lightning it didn't feel quite right. James was still curled up in a sitting position and just lifted his head from his knees. He looked up at the tent ceiling where flashes of lightning seeped through the material. Ash rubbed his eyes wearily.

"You can't sleep either?"

James looked sleepily at Ash, surprised he wasn't the only one awake. He just shook his head and rested his chin on his knees.

A loud crack echoed across the sky that startled both the awake campers. It wasn't just the snap of lightning but also that of something breaking with a sizzle. Ash and James looked at each other with a concerned glance then looked to the tent door. James slowly leaned forward and pulled the zip up. The wind blew open the flaps with vigour and James peered out, trying to shield his eyes from the elements. In the dark of the night he could make out the main road and one tall electricity pylon by the side of it. Lightning lit up the night briefly, just long enough for James to see what had happened. The pylon was still standing, but a charred black mark ran down the side of it. The wire that normally connected the power line lay on the side of the road, fresh sparks leaping from it's coil.

The Team Rocket member took all this in, then realising what it meant, leaned further into the rain and looked down the road. The Pokemon centre was just in sight, but the lights were out. Pokemon centres never had their lights out, so it must be the power line being down. But if the power was out…

James spun round and stared at Ash for a few seconds. Ash saw the look of shock and fear in his eyes and instantly became concerned.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

James pointed outside, his voice in a slightly high pitched panic.

"The power line's broken!"

Ash jumped to his feet, banging his head briefly on the ceiling of the tent. He nudged Brock with his foot."Brock, wake up!"

Brock rolled over and sat up.

"Huh, what? It's not morning, why are you up? I thought you wanted to lay in."

Ash shook his head.

"Not now, the power's out at the Pokemon centre. Lightning struck the pylon and if we don't fix it…"

Brock immediately understood the desperate situation.

"I'll wake the girls."

All three of them left the tent, Brock tapping on the girls tent while Ash and James ran to look at the damage. Ash looked the tall wooden pole up and down, then looked at the length of wire still sparking on the floor. It raised slightly further on where it was attached to another pylon. But unless it was attached to both it was useless. Ash ran forward to grab hold of the wire when a strong hand pulled him back. Brock stood behind him with Misty and Jessie, both looking very unpleased at the rude awakening.

"Trust me Ash, you don't want to touch that. One jolt could kill you."

Ash gulped, realising how close to touching the wire he'd been.

"But how can we get it back up there then?"

Brock thought about this for a second.

"Ash, get your Pidgeotto to go to the campsite and take the cover off the tent. I have an idea."

Ash nodded and took out a pokeball releasing the large bird pokemon from it's confinement. He relayed Brocks orders and Pidgeotto flew into the camp site and striped the tent of it's outer layer. Brock sent out his Zubat to help. Once the two flying pokemon had the large sheet of material held between them, flapping furiously in the wind, Brock revealed the rest of his plan.

"Ash if you can keep Pidgeotto and Zubat holding the sheet right there, I can send out Geodude and have it carry the wire to the top of the pylon for us. Geodude's a rock type so the electricity won't hurt it and the sheet should shield it from the rain."

Misty nodded, she'd studied electricity well since it was her element's weakness, and this made sense and since water was strong against rock that too made sense. Jessie however scoffed at the idea.

"In case you hadn't noticed, that pylon's not exactly in the right condition to hold up something as heavy as Geodude, plus if it's holding the wire, how can it climb."

Brock stood and thought about this for a moment. It could cause a big problem.

"Well I suppose with the combined efforts of my Onix and your Arbok we could keep the pylon standing… Me and someone else will have to carry Geodude up the pylon without touching the wire."

Ash took a step back, he had to keep Pidgeotto in line down here. Misty shook her head, Geodude was far too heavy for her. James swallowed, knowing it would be him. The group nodded and got ready to put this into action. If they didn't get it done quickly…

In the Pokemon centre everything suddenly went black. Pikachu looked around confused and tapped on the glass to Meowth's room. The nurse Joy was in complete and utter panic. She ran from the computer to the machine that only moments ago had beeped out Meowth's pulse. None of them seemed to be working. Pikachu ignored normal reasoning and pushed open the door to the room and jumped up onto the chair next to Meowth's bed. Nurse Joy ignored the machines for a moment and hurridly placed two fingers on the cat pokemon's neck. She ran back to the other side of the room and tried switching the computer on and off again. Pikachu placed a paw on Meowth's neck slowly and it's heart skipped a beat when it felt no pulse behind the fur, Meowth's face looking very pale and lifeless. Nurse Joy muttered curses to herself as she unplugged and plugged back in all the machines only to have none of them work. Desperate not to see a pokemon it had known so long die just like this, Pikachu called out to Joy.

"Pika, pika pii!"

Nurse Joy turned round to see Pikachu pointing to itself and letting small sparks fly from it's red cheeks. Nurse Joy caught on quickly and unplugged the computer and pulse machine. She held each plug to Pikachu's cheeks and Pikachu sent high charges of electricity down the wires. Pikachu looked to the side to see no change in Meowth. It tried again, the room briefly lit by it's efforts. Still no change. Tears formed in Pikachu's eyes, desperation flooding it's little heart. Third time lucky, Pikachu let a joyous smile of relief spread across it's face when the third jolt of it's thunderbolt sent a little leap into Meowth's chest and the cat pokemon took a ragged intake of breath. Pikachu continued to let sparks of electricity travel down the wires and began to relax again when the pulse machine gradually returned to it's bip bip bip…

Brock sent out his Onix who, keeping as dry as possible behind the tent sheet, bit down gently on the top of the pylon, keeping it straight and standing. Geodude took hold of the sizzling wire and Brock and James held it up each under one arm. They slowly began the climb up the metal rungs on the side of the thick pole. Geodude was very heavy and both Brock and James were finding it a chore to carry the boulder pokemon. When they got half way up, the sounds of Ash calling directions to the flying pokemon was lost in the wind and the base of the pylon began to creak. Jessie saw the pylon bend slightly and let out her Arbok, who'd recovered from it's previous fight. Jessie pointed at the pole, making it obvious that the Twerps weren't the target at the moment.

"Arbok, wrap!"

Arbok lunged forwards and wrapped tightly round the base of the wooden pole. It strained slightly and Jessie ran forwards to help the giant cobra-like pokemon keep it's stance, wrapping her own arms around her pokemon and the pole.

Back at the top of the pylon Brock and James struggled up the last few rungs and held Geodude as still as they could while the electricity immune pokemon tied the metal wires back together in a tight knot. Brock sighed in relief when it was finished and returned his pokemon.

However with the sudden loss of weight and a loose grip on the metal step above him, Brock lost his footing and slipped. Down below Ash and Misty cried out as they saw their friend begin to fall. Brock barely got a chance to intake breath, knowing it would be the end when he hit the ground, when a hand clasped securely around his wrist and held him suspended in the air. James closed his eyes as the strain on his arm began to hurt. He didn't let go though and gradually pulled Brock back to the laddered steps on the pylon.

Once both were back on the ground the team began to relax, all the pokemon were returned and the pole looked satisfactory if not a little worse for wear. Everyone was entirely soaked to the bone, but nobody seemed to care. The light was back on at the Pokemon centre and that was all that mattered to them.

Back in the Pokemon centre the lights went back on and Nurse Joy plugged the machines back in. Pikachu was utterly exhausted and couldn't produce any more electricity. It fell asleep where it sat and Nurse Joy kindly moved Pikachu to the bed where it lay on top of Meowth's bed sheets, sighing contently as it lay with a pokemon that could have quite easily been a friend. That night Pikachu dozed quietly to Meowth's warmth and the bip bip bip…


	5. Chapter 5

The sun rose slowly, a glint of triumph in it's warmth. The storm was long over and the rays of light began to heal all that had been damaged by it. The sunlight of the morning shone through the trees round the campsite.

Too tired from the ordeals of the night before, the companions had all crawled into the one tent left standing and fallen asleep. As the light roused them from their cold sleep, they woke one by one. Team Rocket woke first, surprisingly as they normally liked to oversleep. Jessie and James exited the cramped tent as quietly as they could, both very embarrassed at having slept in such a confined space with the Twerps. Ash, Brock and Misty woke up not minutes later and went outside.

Brock and Ash packed away the tent, leaving the soaked outer layer of the tent they'd used the night before to dry, slung over a tree branch. Misty checked the bags and groaned as she called out to Brock.

'We don't have any food left.'

Brock finished shoving the sleeping bags away as he called back.

'That's right, we used the last of it up last night.'

Ash sat on the dry patch where one of the tents had been and groaned, his stomach copying.

'Aw, but the next town's not for a few miles yet, what are we going to eat?'

Brock shook his head to himself, however great Ash thought he was at Pokemon training, sometimes he really missed the obvious things.

'Simple. We collect food from in the forest, berries and apples.'

Ash jumped up, not at all looking surprised that he hadn't thought of it, caring more about the prospect of food. He rummaged in his bag and pulled out a small drawstring bag Brock had given each of them for collecting berries.

'What are we waiting for, let's go!'

Ash jumped to run off when Brock stopped him. He took Ash's small bag off him and handed it to Team Rocket.

'Ash, you go with Misty, I'll go on my own and Team Rocket can use Ash's bag, we can gather more that way.'

Jessie, who'd been holding the berry bag like it was going to explode, shook her head defiantly at the Twerps.

'Nu-uh, no way are doing Twerpy chores.'

Ash frowned at the two, rather annoyed, but not entirely shocked, that they wouldn't want to pull their own weight.

'We fed you yesterday and if you want to eat, you'll go get some food.'

Jessie glared at Ash, but then sighed, he was unfortunately right.

'Fine, we'll get your damned food.'

Team Rocket turned to walk away into the trees. Brock called out.

'Be careful what you pick, red berries in this area are poisonous!'

Jessie waved her hand nonchalantly over her shoulder.

'Right, red ones, got it.'

The trio looked at each other worriedly, before splitting up to do their own scavenging.

About an hour into searching, Team Rocket hadn't even begun to fill their bag. It was well known to them that they were useless scavengers, their stealing habits pointed that out well enough. Jessie reached into one of the trees and called James over.

'Bring the bag, I think I found one! I swear, we must have got the neck of the woods with no berries.'

James rushed over with the limp drawstring and held it out. Jessie victoriously held out between two fingers one of the smallest berries James had ever seen. It was bright scarlet red and wrinkled round the top where the stem had been. James blinked a bit then pointed out a tiny little problem with their finding.

'It's red.'

Jessie frowned and stared at the berry.

'So?'

James tried to remember back to what was said about the red berries.

'Didn't they say these ones were poisonous?'

Jessie sniffed at the berry then shoved it towards James.

'You try it first then.'

James simply raised an eyebrow, they both knew that was a stupid idea. Jessie sighed and dropped the berry on the floor.

'Fine, forget it, we'll keep looking.'

In the Pokemon Centre everything was quiet, a grand comparison to the night before. Pikachu was awake and sat calmly on the chair beside the bed, leaning against a cushion. It had worn off the shock of last night, but still felt confusing yet genuine concern for its injured enemy.

Pikachu looked up at the bed and heard a groan come from Meowth. It jumped up onto the side of the bed. Meowth's eyes slowly opened, surroundings blurred and different to what he remembered. The view stopped blurring slowly as Meowth gained sight. Suddenly Pikachu leaned into Meowth's vision with a concerned 'Pika?'. Meowth nearly jumped out of his skin being so close to his nemesis. Pushing the bed sheets off him, Meowth shuffled as quickly as he could, in his condition, against the headboard of the bed.

'You? Ah! Why am I here, what have you done? Where's Jessie and James…?'

Pikachu bounded up the pillow and placed a small paw over Meowth's mouth with a stern 'Pika, Pikachu.' Meowth glared at the little rodent and pulled it's paw away from his mouth.

'Dontcha tell me to be quiet! I oughta…'

Meowth went pale and very quiet when he heard footsteps coming down the corridor. He froze exactly how he was and watched out the corner of his eye as Nurse Joy's shadow walked past the window, then stopped holding his breath when the footsteps faded as she continued down the hallway. Meowth let go of Pikachu's paw and looked the yellow pokemon up and down.

'Right, you'd better tell me what's going on here. Firstly why am I here and where's Jessie and James?'

Meowth sat down on the pillow, a little more calm that the electric pokemon wasn't about to attack him. He listened to Pikachu explain how Jessie and James had ambushed them on the road, and rather than attacking Ash and his friends, had begged them to take Meowth to the Pokemon Centre and that Jessie and James were still with Ash and the others outside somewhere. Pikachu went on to say how the centre lost it's power in the middle of the night, but that it was back on now, so someone must have fixed it. Meowth nodded, then looked at the wires still attached to his arm and took a long look at the still beeping monitor.

'But if da power went out, how did dis ting work?'

Pikachu sheepishly looked away, it's ears twitched. Meowth stared at his adversary for a while then after it had all sunk in, addressed the mouse pokemon again.

'You gave it power, didntcha?'

Pikachu looked back and nodded. It was a little surprised to see Meowth holding out a still rather dusty paw, a uncomfortable look on his face.

'Er… Tanks, I guess.'

Pikachu smiled and held out it's paw to shake Meowth's. Inches away from shaking, Meowth's paw trembled and he pulled away. Pikachu blinked and peered at it's own paw, was there something on it? Meowth shuddered and looked down from Pikachu's gaze.

'Sorry, but… I mean after so much time knowing you I don't tink I can…'

Pikachu sighed and lay its ears against the back of its head. It sat down and listened to the machine. It was true, after Meowth being attacked by Pikachu for such a long time, it would be natural for him to have a negative reaction to contact with the electric mouse pokemon.

There was an awkward silence where Meowth contemplated, he was the one who'd extended his paw in gratitude, and yet he couldn't bring himself to touch the yellow pokemon. When he got close all he could remember was bolts of that voltage running through his body, searing pain then being blasted off.

Meowth swallowed his pride and, screwing his eyes shut, held out his paw again. He remained tense, expecting a shock any second, when a small paw touched his and shook his paw. Meowth slowly opened his eyes to Pikachu smiling and shaking his paw. Meowth relaxed and smiled too.

Even for foes, it was nice to be friends… occasionally.


	6. Chapter 6

In the campsite everything was packed away, including the now dry tent cover. Ash, Misty and Brock sat in a small circle with a cooking pot and fire ready for lunch, except for one tiny problem. Team Rocket still wasn't back yet. Ash tapped the cover of his watch and peered closely at it.

"Where are they? We were meant to meet here an hour ago."

As if on cue, Jessie and James fell through the bushes onto the floor looking like they'd been dragged through a pile of dust. The trio jumped up, shocked, and stared at the villains. Without looking up, Jessie passed the drawstring Berry bag over to Brock. Brock shook the bag and Misty looked at it intrigued.

"But… that's hardly even half the bag full."

Jessie got to her feet and glared daggers at the water type trainer.

"Well I'm sorry we're not amazing at this!"

Misty held up her hands defensively and sat back down. Brock poured Team Rocket's share into the pot and placed it over the fire, stirring it occasionally. Despite the teamwork they'd all put in the night before, everything was still quite awkward between the two groups. Ash peered into the pot and watched the bigger berries floating round while he talked to Team Rocket.

"So do you guys eat that little every night?"

Jessie and James let their angry defensive guise down and looked at each other with sad faces. Team Rocket had been together so long they could both remember the bad times, and how sometimes, quite often in fact, they went without food at all. James began to doodle on the ground with his finger, not wanting to make eye contact.

"Well actually, we don't normally get as much time to look for food as we did today."

The trio looked at Team Rocket then at each other. Before they had never really had an interest in the criminals, but come to think of it, none of them really knew anything about them. Misty looked back at Jessie and James.

"So you guys don't get to eat much?"

Jessie frowned and looked at Misty as though she was an idiot.

"You think we steal food for fun? Anything that we can sell for money, maybe, but food is just worth stealing to eat."

Brock began to pour the food into bowls, handing one to everyone, Team Rocket sharing one again.

"Why don't you use the money you get from stealing to buy food then?"

Jessie and James went bright red and looked away again. They both knew they were awful at stealing, but letting the Twerps know would be a big step down for them. It would be plain embarrassing. Jessie scratched the back of her head.

"Well, things worth much money are quite hard to come across. We can't even afford to stay inside the towns most days so we just camp the balloon just outside them."

The conversation seemed to be getting a little too personal, so the group quietened down and just finished eating. After Brock had packed away the bowls and cooking equipment, Ash stood up and looked seriously at Team Rocket.

"We have to move on today, so I'm going to get Pikachu and Meowth."

Jessie and James nodded, they knew if Meowth woke up on his own there he may cause trouble. Ash gathered his backpack and jogged to the Pokemon centre. He walked into the lobby of the centre and looked around. It was as quiet as the last time he'd gone there. Ash was happy to see the lights were on still, at least the power line was still working. Nurse Joy came out of the door behind the counter and saw Ash.

"Oh good, you're here. I was getting worried you weren't coming back."

Ash shook his head.

"Oh no, I'd never leave Pikachu."

Nurse Joy nodded, smiling at the young trainer. She beckoned to the back room.

"Come with me, the Meowth is awake but I'm not sure if it's completely healed yet, but it should be able to do that in the wild with a little rest."

Ash followed Nurse Joy down the corridor and into one of the back rooms. The first thing he saw when he entered the room was Meowth and Pikachu both curled up on the pillow of the bed. It was an adorable sight, and despite wondering why they weren't tearing each other apart, Ash could hardly bring himself to wake them. He placed a hand on Pikachu who slowly woke up and looked up at Ash. It's face changed from sleepy to joyful within the space of a few seconds and Pikachu leapt up at Ash, sitting back on his shoulder. With the warmth of Pikachu gone, Meowth woke up too and peered up at Ash. Nurse Joy stood in the corner of the room. Meowth nervously swallowed and looked back to Ash.

"Meowth…?"

Ash blinked. That wasn't right, normally Meowth talked, maybe Meowth hit himself on the head a little too hard. Nurse Joy headed for the door.

"I understand you found this pokemon unconscious, so it might take a few minutes to trust you enough to take it back to where you found it. I'll leave you alone for a while. When you think it's ready, the door out isn't locked so you can just leave. Thank you for coming."

Ash nodded to the Nurse Joy as she left and looked back at Meowth. He crouched by the side of the bed and tried to see if Meowth remembered him.

"Meowth? I'm Ash, do you remember me?"

Meowth sat upright as normal, shaking of his 'pokemon-like' guise. He glared at Ash.

"Course I remember you Twerp! Pikachu here explained everyting, but it'd be suspicious if started talking in front of dat Nurse Joy lady."

Ash jumped back in shock, surprised by Meowth's sudden humanisation. Ash stood up again, keeping eye contact with the cat pokemon.

"Well the others are outside, Jessie and James too. You look better so I'd better take you to them."

Meowth glared again, slightly embarrassed at having to be picked up from the centre by the Twerp like a child at a Daycare. He shakily went to stand up, stood still for about three seconds before he became dizzy and fell flat on his face on the bed sheets. Ash looked at Pikachu, who looked quite worried. Ash leaned forwards again, keeping at cautious distance from the Team Rocket member.

"Are you okay? Do you want me to carry you?"

Meowth looked up, looking disgusted and appalled. He forced himself to his feet and pointed threateningly at Ash.

"Don't you dare, I still have my dignity!"

He took one step forwards and was instantly back on his face again. He clutched tightly to the sheets for a moment, almost worried he'd fall straight off the bed. For the second time that day, Meowth swallowed his pride and looked up again, this time pitiful and embarrassed.

"Well… dis is gonna be just between us, right?"

Ash nodded and slowly picked Meowth up in his arms. Meowth relaxed slightly and sighed. This trainer was gentle and careful, no wonder he had so many pokemon friends. Meowth shook out thoughts like that, this was the Twerp. Ash opened the door and walked out of the pokemon centre, thanking Nurse Joy as he passed.

When Ash reached the campsite he found Jessie and James already waiting to see their team-mate, both looking quite eager and happy to see him alive and well. James ran forwards to take Meowth out of Ash's arms.

"Thank goodness you're alright."

Jessie stepped forwards and leaned over James's shoulder.

"We were really worried about you."

Meowth blinked a couple of times, he never knew they cared, well really cared.

"You were? Aw, James don't cry on me, ya know wet fur stinks."

Team Rocket embraced and Ash and the gang couldn't help but feel they'd done the right thing despite everything between them. James set Meowth on the floor after a lot of persuading and the two groups turned to say farewell. Jessie awkwardly shook Misty's hand, James shook Ash's, rubbing tears away from his cheeks. Meowth stood unsteadily and Pikachu jumped down from Ash's shoulder. They shook paws and Meowth smiled faintly.

"I hope you realise, this changes nothing. We'll be back and we will catch you."

Pikachu shrugged and tried to forget that this nice Team Rocket was only temporary. Meowth turned back to his partners, ready to go. Ash and his friends watched as Team Rocket walked, quite slowly due to Meowth, into the woods.

The instant they were out of sight, Meowth groaned and sat on the ground, still aching like hell. James bent down and smiled at the cat pokemon, still very pleased Meowth was alright.

"Do you want me to carry you?"

Meowth smiled weakly up at his friends."Please."

James picked up Meowth and cradled him in his arms. Meowth looked at his two friends.

"Could we take a break before chasing dem again?"

Jessie nodded and smiled.

"I think we need a break. And just maybe, they do too."

Team Rocket smiled at each other, this time they got lucky, but next time they'd have to be more careful. It was nice though to have a hiatus and think of the Twerps as friends… if just for a little while.


End file.
